RSF launches the propaganda monitor, an investigative project on the geopolitics of propaganda

The fight against propaganda and disinformation is central to Reporters Without Borders (RSF)’s battle to promote reliable journalism – which is why the media watchdog launched The Propaganda Monitor on September 30, 2024. This multimedia platform aims to expose the many faces and tactics behind propaganda worldwide, bolstering the public’s understanding of the information space and helping them navigate it more safely. The first season is devoted to Russian propaganda. 

Promoting reliable journalism is the antidote to disinformation and propaganda. Reporting the facts about the perpetrators and tactics behind these falsehoods is the only way to stamp them out. 

The Propaganda Monitor is an initiative led by RSF to inform the public about the mechanisms behind propaganda and disinformation and combat these underlying factors. The project is fed by exclusive contributions from international experts.

The first season will be devoted to Russian propaganda with a particular focus on RT, a Russian state media outlet that plays a key role in disseminating Kremlin-backed disinformation worldwide.

The Propaganda Monitor exposes how propaganda is created, disseminated, and transformed. It also proposes concrete solutions – aimed at both decision-makers and the general public – to combat propaganda, especially content that imitates journalistic formats to promote an ideology. Ultimately, this project seeks to uphold the right to reliable information – which is at stake across the globe.

Launched on September 30,  the Propaganda Monitor minisite will be regularly updated with brand new investigations, major interviews with leading propaganda experts, and articles profiling notorious propagandists.

"The launch of The Propaganda Monitor is the culmination of Reporters Without Borders' work combating all types of propaganda from the world’s most authoritarian regimes through our international network. While the project’s first season focuses on the Kremlin’s worldwide propaganda campaign, RSF is well aware this phenomenon is not limited to Vladimir Putin's agents. Our goal to expose the tactics that spread propaganda far and wide lies at the heart of RSF’s mandate: ensure every citizen, wherever they may be in the world, has access to reliable, independent and pluralistic information. The Propaganda Monitor’s investigations, major interviews and analyses of the geopolitics of propaganda will be the cornerstone of this mission."

Thibaut Bruttin

Director General of RSF

A multimedia project, The Propaganda Monitor furthers RSF's work towards understanding the geopolitics of global propaganda and combating the spread of disinformation, especially content that uses journalistic formats to promote a political ideology.

The platform also includes RSF’s previous investigations and analyses on propaganda, such as the report on Alexander Malkevich, the investigation into how the Kremlin trains war "correspondents" to work in the occupied territories of Ukraine, and how RT is advancing its agenda in Africa. The minisite will be regularly updated with new content produced by RSF's international teams.

The project is head by a steering committee of international academics: Maxime Audinet, France;  David Colon, France;  Valdez Onanina, Senegal; Daniel Milo, Slovakia; Rasa Nedeljkov, Serbia;  Vladimir Rouvinski, Colombia; Dorka Takácsy, Hungary

The Propaganda Monitor also includes a section dedicated to RSF’s projects that combat propaganda directly, such as the Svoboda satellite bouquet – which provides 4.5 million households in the Russian Federation and 800,000 households in the occupied territories of Ukraine with access to reliable sources of information – and Operation Collateral Freedom, which unblocks censored media outlets via mirror sites. The Propaganda Monitor aligns with RSF's recommendations to combat foreign interference in the European Union’s information space.

To mark the launch of The Propaganda Monitor, RSF is publishing seven brand new articles, including an analysis of how RT, a Russian propaganda outlet, is spreading Kremlin propaganda in the Balkans despite sanctions, and an interview with researcher Vladimir Rouvinski on RT’s influence in Latin America. The profiles of two Russian propagandists, Italian globe-trotter Vittorio Rangeloni and Ukrainian Diana Panchenko, illustrate how the Kremlin spreads its influence internationally, and an original investigation traces the footsteps of missing journalists in Ukraine.